Arkansas 28-year-old making big bucks for Snapchat masterpieces

As we continue our Social Media Money Maker series, Amanda Jaeger spoke with one of the top Snapchatters in the world that happens to live right here in central Arkansas

Author:
Amanda Jaeger

Published:
11:46 AM CST February 6, 2018

Updated:
2:08 PM CST February 6, 2018

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- Social media is the hottest way to connect with the people and world around us. Most of us just do it for fun, but some do it for the money-making potential.

In our “Social Media Money Maker” series, THV11’s Amanda Jaeger met some of the top gurus in Arkansas who have turned it into their part and full-time businesses.

One of those gurus is Snapchat extraordinaire, 28-year-old Cyrene Quiamco. She's one of the most famous Snapchatters in the world and just happens to live right here in central Arkansas.

An average day for Quiamco is far from average. While most of us go to our regular 9-5 jobs, she is regularly meeting celebrities or traveling to new and exciting places. Meanwhile, she's Snapchatting every minute of her incredible journey.

“Basically, when I wake up to when I sleep, it’s my life,” said Quiamco.

Each day she is documenting her life through Snapchat “snaps” while traveling around the world as a partner with major brands like Coca Cola, AMC, Disney and Walmart. The companies hire her to create unique, fun Snapchat content for their businesses. Then, she shares her experiences with their target audiences.

“I got to take my family to Disneyland and basically, they [Disney] said to create content and have fun at Disneyland,” she said. “I’ve also been able to interview celebrities on the red carpet and I got to go to Japan and experience cultural experiences there while partnering with a brand.”

Recently, she was selected to speak to over 17,000 people in an event call “We Day.” It’s an event where celebrities and social media influencers gather to inspire younger generations to help with various causes.

“I was backstage and Oprah was there along with Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez,” she said. “I got to see some celebrities and take selfies with them.”

Many might be wondering how a girl in her 20s from Little Rock, Arkansas was able to make it to the big leagues and start making thousands of dollars for her sponsored Snapchat posts. Well, it all started from humble beginnings when Quiamco was a young artist and web designer eager to share her work with the world. She said she knew she was an artist and had to find a way to get her art out there. She chose social media as the medium to do it.

“I didn't start on this thinking I would make a business. I was my own brand and I used social media as a medium to market my brand.”

She started to attract a lot of attention by taking selfies then drawing a celebrity on top of the photo to make it look like she took a selfie with them. Then, she would post it to Snapchat. Some major brands saw her work and loved it and so they started inviting her to red carpet events.

“They were saying they wanted to make my celebrity selfies a reality.”

Eventually, other companies started to take notice of her art and the rest is history. She started using Snapchat as a business in small ways. She started out doing around three pictures for a brand for roughly $500. Now, she earns up to $30,000 per sponsored post. She even quit her web design job to do content for Snapchat full-time.

“The posts involve a lot more work and it’s not just pictures,” she said. “It's basically going to an event creating videos and creating shows.”

While she's already flying among the stars she said she's still eager to soar to new heights for the future. She said she already has some new ideas in the works that she hopes to reveal soon.

“I always say I want to be the first, so maybe I want to be the first to try something different on TV and other social media,” said Quiamco.

Quiamco is also a published author, sharing her experience of social media stardom. In her book "11 Seconds to Success,” she details how you can start turning your passion into a career just like she did.

You can find more information by clicking here. Follow Cyrene on Snapchat (CyreneQ) and Instagram (@cyreneq).